Singapore Shares May Tick Higher On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Singapore stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of ending the two-day slide in which it had slipped more than a dozen points or 0.25 percent. The Straits Times Index now rests just beneath the 4,960-point plateau and it's likely to be rangebound again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement as the world waits for developments in the Middle East. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The STI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and mixed performances from the property stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index shed 14.39 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 4,958.01 after trading between 4,947.33 and 4,990.59.

Among the actives, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT sank 0.40 percent, while CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust retreated 0.86 percent, CapitaLand Investment declined 0.72 percent, City Developments stumbled 1.32 percent, DBS Group shed 0.28 percent, DFI Retail Group surged 3.42 percent, Hongkong Land, Keppel Ltd and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding all rose 0.25 percent, Mapletree Industrial Trust dropped 0.51 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation slumped 0.62 percent, Seatrium Limited vaulted 1.22 percent, SembCorp Industries added 0.44 percent, Singapore Airlines skidded 0.60 percent, Singapore Technologies Engineering rallied 2.05 percent, SingTel tumbled 1.39 percent, Thai Beverage contracted 1.16 percent, United Overseas Bank eased 0.08 percent, UOL Group fell 0.10 percent, Wilmar International jumped 1.81 percent and Singapore Exchange, Genting Singapore, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Keppel DC REIT and SATS were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity s the major averages spent most of Tuesday well under water before a late push saw them end mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 85.42 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 46,584.46, while the NASDAQ rose 21.51 points or 0.10 percent to close at 22,017.85 and the S&P 500 perked 5.02 points or 0.08 percent to end at 6,616.85.

Stocks showed a notable move to the upside late in the trading day after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on President Donald Trump to extend his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by two weeks to "allow diplomacy to run its course."

Trump had earlier threatened to attack Iran's power plants and bridges if Tehran fails to reach a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 pm ET.

Crude oil prices have inched higher on Tuesday as Iran remains unresponsive to U.S. threats to open up the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $0.65 or 0.58 percent at $113.06 per barrel.